Chloramphenicol in Japan: Let it bleed

Abstract

One morning not long ago an American woman living in Tokyo woke up with what she took to be flu symptoms. She went to a local pharmacist recommended by her Japanese neighbors and received an unmarked plastic and foil packet containing eight maroon capsules, with instructions to take one every four hours. She neglected to ask the name of the drug. Two days later she returned for more capsules and learned that she had been taking chloramphenicol.